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Log inSummer's Bumper Crop Of Monsters
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Summer's Bumper Crop Of Monsters
by Outspoken on Tue Aug 19, 2008 5:43 pm
Summer's Bumper Crop Of Monsters
By Hank Stuever
Washington Post Staff Writer
America's seeing monsters again, so Mommy needs to open the door a crack and leave the hallway light on:
1. Some sheriff's deputies in Cuero, Tex., released footage captured by one of their dash-cams on Aug. 8 of a . . . something (the legendary Mexican goat-sucker, el chupacabra?) running along a dirt road in broad daylight. This went along with reports (and pix!) of bodies of long-fanged, doglike creatures found in Texas. Weird!
2. A news cycle or two after the Texas chupacabra came the dead . . . something, allegedly a Bigfoot, discovered in the (cue banjo) backwoods of Georgia. Two men have pictures of it and say they've got the body, too. They held a news conference (cue flat trumpet bleat) last Friday, which CNN showed live. Bizarre!
3. Meanwhile, for days, Gawker and other Web sites busied themselves with discussion of the so-called "Montauk Monster," brought to us via photos of the bloated corpse of . . . something (a de-shelled tortoise? a skinned bulldog?) that allegedly washed up on the Long Island shore sometime in July. Yucko!
From one perspective, this can all be taken as a good sign: When people come forth with fresh evidence of cryptids (the sorta scientific term for any creature whose existence cannot be proved), it usually means they don't have anything better to do, which in turn means there's an absence of the very kinds of calamity that would keep people otherwise preoccupied -- such as war, economic collapse or the death of a major figurehead or world leader. The monsters come in summer, when the nights are long and we are camping and telling stories around the fire. The monsters show up when we are most bored. (But, you say, we do have a war! We do have economic collapse! We even have Russia again -- so why all the hokey claims of real monsters?)
From another perspective, when people see monsters it can portend a heightened sense of paranoia and abstract worry -- the spooky vibes that come before the real panic. The monster sightings could be omens, indicating something really bad is about to happen. Among the very last things we were transfixed by before Sept. 11, 2001, were random shark attacks and the eerie disappearance of a Washington intern who went jogging in the woods of Rock Creek Park -- both excellent campfire stories, and both forgotten after the terrorist attacks that soon came.
From still another perspective, it's depressing, isn't it? For all our advancement in civilizing and wiring and figuring out the world, we discover a culture that is still so ready, at a moment's notice, to become villagers with torches.
Once confined to Time-Life books and late-night TV shows, today's cryptids avail themselves of all the latest kookanalia. In the era of Photoshop, it's easier than ever to make up a monster, and it's easier than ever to expose him as a joke. It's no longer enough to come running out of the woods with your stories and your blurry Instamatic proof. You need to upload your video. You need to send a link. You need a press conference and a spokesman. But the story always ends up the same, with the entire world tauntingly responding, nunh-unh:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/18/AR2008081802481.html?wpisrc=newsletter
By Hank Stuever
Washington Post Staff Writer
America's seeing monsters again, so Mommy needs to open the door a crack and leave the hallway light on:
1. Some sheriff's deputies in Cuero, Tex., released footage captured by one of their dash-cams on Aug. 8 of a . . . something (the legendary Mexican goat-sucker, el chupacabra?) running along a dirt road in broad daylight. This went along with reports (and pix!) of bodies of long-fanged, doglike creatures found in Texas. Weird!
2. A news cycle or two after the Texas chupacabra came the dead . . . something, allegedly a Bigfoot, discovered in the (cue banjo) backwoods of Georgia. Two men have pictures of it and say they've got the body, too. They held a news conference (cue flat trumpet bleat) last Friday, which CNN showed live. Bizarre!
3. Meanwhile, for days, Gawker and other Web sites busied themselves with discussion of the so-called "Montauk Monster," brought to us via photos of the bloated corpse of . . . something (a de-shelled tortoise? a skinned bulldog?) that allegedly washed up on the Long Island shore sometime in July. Yucko!
From one perspective, this can all be taken as a good sign: When people come forth with fresh evidence of cryptids (the sorta scientific term for any creature whose existence cannot be proved), it usually means they don't have anything better to do, which in turn means there's an absence of the very kinds of calamity that would keep people otherwise preoccupied -- such as war, economic collapse or the death of a major figurehead or world leader. The monsters come in summer, when the nights are long and we are camping and telling stories around the fire. The monsters show up when we are most bored. (But, you say, we do have a war! We do have economic collapse! We even have Russia again -- so why all the hokey claims of real monsters?)
From another perspective, when people see monsters it can portend a heightened sense of paranoia and abstract worry -- the spooky vibes that come before the real panic. The monster sightings could be omens, indicating something really bad is about to happen. Among the very last things we were transfixed by before Sept. 11, 2001, were random shark attacks and the eerie disappearance of a Washington intern who went jogging in the woods of Rock Creek Park -- both excellent campfire stories, and both forgotten after the terrorist attacks that soon came.
From still another perspective, it's depressing, isn't it? For all our advancement in civilizing and wiring and figuring out the world, we discover a culture that is still so ready, at a moment's notice, to become villagers with torches.
Once confined to Time-Life books and late-night TV shows, today's cryptids avail themselves of all the latest kookanalia. In the era of Photoshop, it's easier than ever to make up a monster, and it's easier than ever to expose him as a joke. It's no longer enough to come running out of the woods with your stories and your blurry Instamatic proof. You need to upload your video. You need to send a link. You need a press conference and a spokesman. But the story always ends up the same, with the entire world tauntingly responding, nunh-unh:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/18/AR2008081802481.html?wpisrc=newsletter
"Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything."
Plato (427-347 BC)
Plato (427-347 BC)
